Regulation


An Inside Look at the CFPB (Jan. 14, 2014)

As the payments industry awaits new rules on GPR prepaid cards set to be issued by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in May, an in-depth piece in Sunday’s Washington Post offers a fascinating look at the inner workings of the agency—and valuable insights into the CFPB’s origins, culture and motivations.

ABN Amro joins Eurex OTC Clear

Dutch bank ABN Amro has become a member of German derivatives exchange Eurex’s OTC Clear service, which clears interest rate swaps, as part of the bank’s compliance with EMIR.

No SEFs please, we’re bankers …

Most banks are still not ready for the arrival of Swap Execution Facilities, the new category of trading venues created by the Dodd-Frank act in the US to handle OTC derivatives. Worse still, market participants are almost universally negative about SEFs, according to a new paper by research house GreySpark Partners.

Swift boosts collaboration push with Financial Crime Compliance unit

Swift has created a dedicated Financial Compliance Services unit to manage a growing number of service offerings. The new unit will focus initially on the development of a Know Your Customer Registry planned for launch later this year as well as the integration and development of existing services.

Barclays fined again for “widespread” failure to keep records

Barclays has been fined $3.75 million by the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for its failure to keep electronic records, including emails and instant messages, which are required by law. The failure is the latest in a string of recent fines for the bank.

Breaking News: Sen. Menendez Introduces Prepaid Card Bill (Dec. 20, 2013)

Most folks this week are concentrating on tracking down last-second gifts or holiday dinner menu items. Not U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.). He is, again, looking to “rein in hidden fees and strengthen financial protections offered by prepaid card companies” with new legislation announced today.

LEIs and CDOs: why aren’t data professionals taking the reins?

With regulators agreeing that “higher expectations” must be met by G-SIFIs for risk data aggregation and reporting by 2016, firms are now under huge pressure to provide data strategies and implementation plans and end denial about any shortcomings.

IOSCO final report calls for “evolving” regulation

The International Organisation of Securities Commissions has set out its final recommendations on the integrity and efficiency of markets, calling for regulators to think deeply about the effects of their regulation and keep monitoring the markets regularly to ensure that changes are taken into account.

ICE reveals a design for Liffe

IntercontinentalExchange has revealed further details of its plans for Liffe, following its acquisition of NYSE Euronext in November.

Commerzbank connects to Regis-TR ahead of EMIR

Germany’s Commerzbank has just signed up to Regis-TR, the European trade repository owned by German CSD Clearstream and Spanish CSD Iberclear, as part of the bank’s drive to ready itself for the EMIR legislation on OTC derivatives reporting.

Bitcoin boom prompts banking dilemma

Bitcoin is more traceable but less regulated, less expensive but more volatile, and more decentralised but less accountable, than a regular currency. Feeling confused? That’s not the half of it, according to Ernst & Young.

The joy of Basel III

Basel III has transformed liquidity risk management departments into glorified regulatory functions, according to a new report by analyst firm Celent. As if this good news was not enough to be getting on with, the research house also inevitably concludes that banks will have to change their risk data, models, appetite, organisational and analytics frameworks too.

Mizuho International revisits reference data risk

Wrapping up all of the reference data a large global bank needs and making sure it is standardised, automated and ready for the regulator is a big task. Japanese bank Mizuho International has just installed an EDM service from vendor Golden Source, which it says will help to support trading and satisfy the regulator.

The hidden cost of corporate compliance

Former SunGard chief executive Cris Conde writes about the importance of training in firms’ governance, risk management and compliance strategies and why they should treat it as an investment.

Regulation and T2S forcing European post-trade evolution says Celent

As Europe’s post-trade infrastructure is subjected to increasing levels of regulation, CSDs will be forced to change their business models to stay alive, custodians will be forced to seek alliances to find economies of scale, and brokers will have to outsource parts of their mid and back office processes to stay in the game, according to analyst firm Celent.

Is it safe to trust the machines?

Bank algos may superficially appear to be well-tested – but the process may be open to any number of unexpected flaws, according to Steve Wilcockson, industry manager at big data specialist firm MathWorks.

Voxsmart prepares cloud mobile voice recording service for banks

A new mobile voice recording service is being developed by UK tech company Voxsmart, which it claims is the first to automatically capture every type of communication on a mobile device so that it can be used for trading compliance purposes, including the FCA in the UK and Dodd-Frank in the US.

Volante rolls out T2S Accelerator

Fintech vendor Volante Technologies has launched its T2S Accelerator, which is designed to help financial services firms to prepare for the T2S settlement platform.

FSAs Could Get Bump as Treasury Loses ‘Use-or-Lose’ Rule (Nov. 20, 2013)

The No. 1 barrier to consumer adoption of flexible spending accounts (FSAs) has been removed. The U.S. Treasury and IRS on Halloween announced they were changing their stance on the so-called “use-or-lose” rule, enabling consumers for the first time to rollover up to $500 from their FSAs instead of forfeiting those funds back to their employers.

Fidessa and Celent call for MiFID II clemency on dark pools

Regulators should consider carefully the implications of their actions, and not be too hasty to censure or restrict trading activity on dark pools, according to a report released by analyst firm Celent this week. The findings have been supported by senior financial services executives at Fidessa, who have called for investor choice to be maintained.

Cordray: ‘Change is Coming’ to Prepaid Card Industry (Nov. 14, 2013)

Change is coming to the prepaid card industry, whether by regulation or legislation, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray promised lawmakers this week at a Senate Banking Committee hearing, but he declined to provide a timetable. “[Prepaid cards] are one of the problem areas in consumer financial protection because they’re a hole in the […]

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